A source close to the event today confirmed the booking with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). Sherdog.com first reported it this past week.

Although not officially announced, UFC Fight Night 23 is expected to take Jan. 22 in conjunction with Fort Hood in Texas.

The show is expected to air on Spike TV, though Lowe vs. Freire likely will be part of the untelevised preliminary card.

Lowe looks to build off his first UFC victory, which came via split decision over Steve Lopez at UFC 119 in September. In his previous fight, he made his promotional debut and suffered a TKO loss to Melvin Guillard at UFC 114. It remains the American Top Team and Bellator/KOTC vet’s only loss in his past eight fights.

Just 23 years old, Freire brings an impressive 11-fight win streak into the cage. The Nova Unaio fighter’s most recent outing was a split-decision win over Yusuke Endo at a Shooto event back in June. Eleven of Freire’s win have come via stoppage, and nine of those have been earned by submission.

Freire was expected to make his UFC debut against Thiago Tavares at UFC on Versus 2 but pulled out of the August bout with a leg injury.

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